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Your Own Worst Enemy Has Come to Town (She?s that Lady in the Back Row)

The story that follows comes to me secondhand, and while I belive every word is accurate I could be mistaken. If so, don't yell at me. Correct me.

Apparently yesterday?s CDO lunch talk about firm stability in this economy came prefaced with assurances that the discussion would not be taped, that the conversation would be confidential, and that students should be candid the speaker. Students were encouraged to share the names of their firms, and the details of the changes to their summer programs, and to ask questions like, "Will my firm make it, or not?"

Sounds pretty cozy -- sounds pretty much like that chill Boalt community we read about in the admissions packet, right? It might have been, except that the talk was infiltrated by a reporter from American Lawyer, who sat through the entire presentation in all of its candid glory, then sought one-on-one interviews with students after the presentation.

I have every reason to believe this story is true. If it is, it seems like one of two things happened: the CDO failed to make clear the special way in which it used the word ?confidential,? or the CDO was hoodwinked by a cagy reporter. My guess is it's the latter, and to be fair it must hard for them to prevent this kind of thing. If we can't crack down on the pill snorters from the men's restrooms around here (see Anonymous at 2:42 p.m.), how can we expect to exclude a highly motivated journalist from a crowded lecture hall?

Either way is a huge oops and a bad deal all the way around. I?d be physically ill if the next American Lawyer qotes Boalt students on the instability of any particular firm. Especially if I were the only Boaltie headed to that firm.

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*Yes, this story is real. Yes, I know it's April 01.

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on April 01, 2009 (boomark / email).